


Crackheads Against The Apocalypse

by NatureWorld



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Apocalypse, Blood, Canon LGBTQ Character, Dark Past, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Death, Father-Daughter Relationship, Flirting, Infected Characters, LGBTQ Themes, Memory Loss, Multi, Neurodivergence Implications, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Non-human characters, Nuclear Weapons, Original Character Death(s), POV Third Person, POV Third Person Limited, Past Character Death, Past Tense, Post-Apocalypse, Traitor, Weapons, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, light fluff, mental illness implications
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28699644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NatureWorld/pseuds/NatureWorld
Summary: Eight crackheads, against the zombie apocalypse. What will they do? Well, probably all die.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1: Safety in Numbers

Toast looked out his window, his dusty brown hair blowing in the breeze. It wasn't supposed to be like this, he thought. It was a dark day, like normal. Zombies filled the city streets, their disgusting odor filling the air.

They rushed in at every available direction that wasn’t crowded with other zombies. Some of those directions were into buildings, some of those directions were into the fields beyond the small city. The only place that wasn't crowded was a small forest near the outskirts.

Ever since they came in, it hasn’t been the same. The city looked abandoned, like a ruin. Vines grew on the shattered pieces of glass and bits of concrete from the walls of what used to be a bustling city. The concrete was a greyish-white color and the glass was dirty with coagulated blood and, of course, dirt, maybe even remnants of infection.

Toast knew he had to run, and quickly. His foster parents had been one of the first ones to get infected, they were never helpful to him anyway. His only hope was to find his friends, since Toast knew they would have at least put up a fight before going out. 

It was best for his daughter.

Oh, and Yumi.

He didn't know how they got here though… and neither did they, he guessed.

Throwing some food and plastic bottles into a bag, Toast slugged the straps over his shoulder and grabbed his trusty metal bat, which rested at the foot of his bed. He made sure to fill up the bottles from the clean water jugs - his foster parents wouldn't need them anyway.

He thought about how to escape. There was a crowd of zombies around the front door, though they hadn't noticed him yet, so that was overruled. He was definitely not busting out one of the glass windows, especially since that would alert them to all of them. After some thought, Toast decided to go out the back door, and climb over his neighbors' fences. There were no zombies around that house, and he could escape through the creek.

He went to tell the others. They were sitting downstairs, watching TV programs - at least, the ones that were still repeating. Toast didn't know if they could ever watch these programs again, but now wasn't the time for negative thoughts.

“Yumi, Kat, we have to go,” he said numbly, bringing out a loaded pistol for safety.

Kat almost pouted, “But whyyyyyy- The show’s just getting good! Right, Yumi?”

Yumi was writing in a book.

“Yumiiiii-” she placed a hand on Yumi’s bare shoulder, preparing to shake them to death.

They shook out of their thoughts instead and hid the book in their clothes, “Huh? Hm?”

“The show!”

“...Yes.”

Toast facepalmed.

"Guys, we have to go… and now. There are more and more zombies appearing from who knows where, and if we don't go soon, it'll only get worse. I saw a forest at the edge of the city, we can camp out there. Bring whatever you deem necessary."

Kat immediately ran to her ‘bedroom’, which was actually just the kitchen but with a couch in the center and grabbed a bomb-like object. Yumi remained there, thinking as they looked around, until they broke the silence, pulling out the dagger strapped onto their leg, “I think I have everything.”

Then their eyes widened behind their glasses, “Wait, give me a second.”

Yumi waddled off to the ruins upstairs where Toast had just been.

Kat came running in with the bomb, jumping up and down, “I'm good! I got everything!”

“You still have that nuke, Kat?” Toast laughed lightheartedly, placing his head in his freehand gently with a little shake.

Pouting, Kat went off and sat on the couch again, fiddling with the dangerous thing.

...And just in time, Yumi walked downstairs carefully, hiding something fluffy in their clothes.

“Ok,” Toast clapped his hands, subconsciously checking the safety on the pistol

“Let’s go.”


	2. Chapter 2: Lost Sass, New Cat

Toast, Yumi, and Kat venture out into the wilderness, hoping to not die. Will they? Well, only time can tell.

The two followed Toast out the back door, helping each other climb the fence. They moved quietly, as to not alert the zombies in front of the buildings or in the buildings. It was better to move fast, but quiet. 

The forest could be good or bad, Toast thought. They could hide from the zombies there, but the zombies could be hiding behind trees at every turn. Nowhere was completely safe anymore, you always had to be on guard. 

Toast led the way, keeping a close combat weapon on hand. The others also had small weapons, since they could never be too safe. Yumi, of course, had their dagger, and Kat had an abundance of small throwing knives, throwing them at all the trees recklessly, to Toast’s dismay.

“You really need to stop doing that,” he hushed to Kat, who just giggled, continuing to throw them. He sighed. 

Finally, the group found a small stream flowing through the forest, with some blackberries growing around it. It was quiet, with only the water and a bit of rustling in the background.

While Yumi and Kat went around collecting the berries, the rustling put Toast on high alert. He crouched down, looking around at the bushes, waiting for movement again.

A bush near Kat shook.

Toast immediately rushed over and pushed Kat behind him, much to her dismay and Yumi’s ignorance, slowly walking her back as the bush rustled more and more.

Toast pointed the pistol at it.

…

Out walked a small, whitish cat, looking up at Toast in confusion. They didn't look scared, but more done with his bullshit already. It had a small cut on its paw.  
Toast continued to point the gun at them, struggling to hold Kat back from petting them. This didn't look like any regular cat, he thought.

Much of their fur was also some type of pastel blue and their mouth was also a pastel colour, pastel purple.

He’d never seen an infected cat before, so he could only assume at this point.

Is this what the infection did to cats?

“You can stop pointing that at me now.”

Kat squealed. Yumi just stared, and then went back to picking berries… because that's what they were doing before.

Had that cat just talked?

"My name is Wholesome. Who are you?" the cat said, “You don't have the right to point that thing at me.”

"I- I'm Xeanon." Toast stuttered, using his real name. "These are Kat and Yumi, my friends."

“Oh! Good for you. I lost my friends.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. They told me they’d come back,” they flicked their claws together, catching Yumi’s attention, “They never did.”

"Well, we can be your friends!" Kat said. "We aren't exactly experts at surviving here, and we could use your help!"

"Sure. I have nothing else to do, and the lack of company is killing me.”

…

After a while, Yumi and Kat had harvested and planted all the blackberries. Kat had tasted them, and confirmed that they were, in fact, blackberries - or she just did that to steal a juicy one.

It had started to get dark, and Wholesome had told Yumi and Toast that the group could rest their heads on their fur to sleep.

Kat was ecstatic and Toast was just more or less uncomfortable and decided not to do that in fear of infection, failing to convince Kat of it. Yumi… was Yumi. They slept on the ground, much like Toast.

An eye glowed from the trees above.


	3. Chapter 3: Burning Bright And Focus Alight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !! TW !!  
> Gore

Toast woke up to a katana at his neck. He looked up, only to meet the eye of... not a human, that's for sure.

They had a dark magenta eye with a soiled bandage wrapped around the left one. They had a brown backpack, too, only one strap remaining. Toast supposed the other one was bitten off since there were bite marks on the ends. 

The weird thing about them was their long hair. The hair was a dark purple with the ends fading into dark blue. It looked very much like a galaxy, but Toast couldn't imagine galaxy-colored hair- that would be out of this world.

Wait… Why was he even looking at their appearance right now? They were about to kill him!

He swiftly pulled out his loaded pistol, nicking his neck slightly on their blade, matching their somewhat growling yet numb expression. 

They spoke.

"What are you?"

Toast was creeped out.

This was definitely not a human, their voice was not like a human’s at all.

"I'm a… human?" 

"Oh, good. I thought you were a panda," they said in a monotone tone, rolling their eyes.

By this time, Kat and Wholesome had woken up and Yumi was staring blankly at the scene beside them.

"Nebula?" Wholesome said, looking at the creature.

Their head whipped around to face Wholesome. 

"Wholesome?"

Yumi spoke up, humming nonchalantly, "I don't remember who y’all are, but I’m guessing you two know each other?"

"Haha! We do!" Wholesome spoke up. "This is Nebula!"

Yumi gave a peace sign, “Yo,” then they went back to writing in their book, ignoring the fact that this ‘Nebula’ was holding a katana to Toast’s neck and could kill him in an instant.

"Uh. I don't know who you are or what you are, but could you take your sword off my neck please?" Toast hissed, carefully trying to push away the katana from his neck.

"It's a katana, imbecile," Nebula spat, putting the katana behind their back.

“Oh, I’m sorry. It's not like I care or anything,” Toast spat back, pointing the pistol at her as he stood up, dusting himself slightly, “What are you doing here? You aren't welcome.”

"In fact, you aren't welcome here," they grumbled, "This is my land… and those are my crops you're eating."

Kat looked down at the blackberries she had started to get out from Toast's backpack.

“Nebulaaaaaaaaaaaaa, they probably didn’t know,” Wholesome mewled while dragging out the ‘a’. 

"Yes, but you did,” Nebula snapped back. 

“Oh, sorry,” Wholesome fiddled with their claws numbly, “I guess you're right about that.”

"Who are your friends, Wholesome?" Nebula looked the group up and down, clearly not satisfied with them.

“Well, you have the alien,” they point to Toast, “the (bomb) child,” they point to Kat, who had made her way behind Toast, “and the amnesiac!” they point to Yumi.

Yumi scoffed with a giggle.

"What… are you?" Toast asked Nebula, confident in his words, but clearly confused and somewhat nervous.

" What do you think I am?" they scoffed.

“A child with an attitude?” Toast raised an eyebrow, still holding his gun firmly in hand.

Wholesome wheezed.

"A star, idiot," Nebula hissed

“Nebulaaaaaa- No need to be rude to themmmmm- They’re nice, although the weapons they hold are pretty scary-”

Just then, Kat attempted to throw a throwing knife at them.

Nebula blocked it with her sword and the knife bounced off it, flying off into the bushes.

"Ironic,” she mocked.

Toast swung around to look behind him and shot Kat a death glare, to which Kat just shrugged and went about preparing another throwing knife. Toast caught her arms.

Yumi silently got up and went over to where the knife got thrown to.

"Wholesome, what are you even doing with these people? They clearly have no common sense, Nebula scoffed.

“Why do you think I’m with them?” Wholesome smirked, rubbing up onto Nebula mockingly, “It's like you just said it.”

"I should have expected that," they sighed. "Anyway, this has gone on long enough. Get off my lawn, peasants."

“Nooooooooooooo, they were so niceeeeeee-” Wholesome whined, “-and the perfect sacrifices for zoommmmbiiiessssss-”

“WHAT.”

“What?” Wholesome hums back at Kat, who was struggling to escape her father’s grip, “You thought I was your friend? I never said I wanted any, did I?”

"Wholesome."

“I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Jeez. Calm down. Don't you have a sense of humor?" Wholesome rolled their eyes at the ‘star’, seemingly aggravated.

"Not as dark as yours." 

"What the heck," Kat said.

Nebula turned to the humans, "You need to go. Now. You've already been here too long."

"Why?" Toast asked, "It's not like we're hurting you or anything."

Nebula raised an eyebrow and nodded over to the small throwing knife that Yumi was now scrutinizing.

"Are you sure about that?" they said.

"Uh- Well- " Toast stuttered.

"Go. Now. " 

"Finne, jeez-" Wholesome spat out jokingly, before...

...a rusty groan interrupted their conversation.

"What was that- " Kat tried to say, but was cut off by the star.

"GO! NOW! RUN!" Nebula yelled at them, before getting her katana out and holding it in a defensive position.

The group had no time to react when suddenly a group of zombies burst out from behind the trees. Nebula backed up, pushing the group behind her. One zombie approached Wholesome, who was watching from a stump, and Wholesome swiftly swiped it in half with their claws. 

Its guts splattered across the grass, and Wholesome nonchalantly walked away to use Nebula as a shield. It still looked human... almost.

Two zombies strayed off from the initial group and ambushed them from behind. Another went straight for Nebula and Wholesome, a kick to the chest and skilled decapitation doing the job for the solo one.

One zombie targeted Toast, but he made quick work of that with a few dutiful shots from his already loaded pistol into the head and heart area. The other went for Kat and she threw her knives with much morbid glee...

...until she kept missing.

She threw once.

She threw twice.

“DAD!”

Toast shot thrice.

She laughed nervously and went by his side, him giving her a look to NEVER do that again.

The rest of the zombies crowded around, hungry and hurting for more, not even targeting one person for their next attack.

Most went to Nebula and Wholesome, which, of course, they took care of easily with many swipes and slashes from claws and a katana. Toast kept on  
shooting more and more, pushing many away from Kat, who had had enough of fighting zombies today.

It was a clear win for them.

And with all that said, corpses littered the little berry clearing, some bobbing in the stream and others mutilated beyond repair.

It was a quick and easy fight.

“Hey Dad…?” Kat mumbles, pushing herself away from Toast with an ear twitch.

“Yes, Kat?” Toast responds bitterly, still hung up on what just happened.

She remains quiet for a second, looking around before…

"Where's Yumi?"


	4. Chapter 4: Welcome Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !! TW !!  
> Gore

At the sound of their name, a figure resembling a disoriented Yumi made their way out of deeper greenery, a few sticks in them from being fallen on top of.

They held one hand up on their head and one pulling up their thick black scarf, “I’m here…”

Injuries littered the poor bloke, from their broken glasses to their exposed shoulders to their untied sleeveless cloth ‘hoodie’ revealing naked bruised and bloody skin underneath. 

“What happened?!" Toast yelled, clearly scared.

Yumi just shrugged, before nearly collapsing onto the ground, Kat saving them.

“...don't remember,” they mumbled, the first part of their sentence inaudible as their eyes drooped sleepily.

Nebula set their backpack on the ground and opened it. They took out a roll of bandages and silently handed it to Toast, who nodded in thanks.

Nodding his head to signal Kat to him, he took Yumi from her and laid them down on a none-corpse infested part of the ground.

Toast took off whatever remained of Yumi’s ‘hoodie’ and started bandaging their chest, avoiding their breasts because that would cause even more damage than repair. The wounds were beginning to puss and already looked close to infection, but didn't seem to be caused by a zombie. 

The sticks in their back were stuck in deep and were probably causing the most damage to them then any other bruise or injury. They must have been pushed hard onto the sticks by someone, definitely not a zombie.

This was intentional.

Toast started to remove the sticks from Yumi, keeping their cloth ‘hoodie’ nearby to put pressure on the wound and prevent too much blood loss. He was sure they wouldn't mind. It's just some clothes.

Every time he touched or pulled on the sticks, Yumi shuddered from their unconscious state, so he took it out slowly. One by one, using the cloth as he thought he would. When they were out, he beckoned Nebula for another bandage roll, and when they gave it to him, he wrapped the impalation wounds with it.

Yumi clearly wasn't in the best state, but this was the best Toast could do with what he had on him.

He needed to figure out who did this. 

…

Kat had walked away. She didn’t really have an interest in medical things or gore, and got squeamish around blood. Besides, the group needed more food, especially if Nebula was going to take back their crops. 

She eventually found a patch of sweet berries, but just as she started picking them, the sensation of being watched overtook her.

“Who’s there?” she called out nervously.

The noise of the wind grew stronger, but nobody answered. The sensation remained ever there.

“H-Hello…?”

A voice called back, but the wind made it hard to figure out where they were, “It seems the little team you’ve made is having a hard time, hm?”

“What?! How do you know about us?!” 

“You really think only zombies hide behind these trees?” the mysterious voice purred. “You should know that by now, after your last… unfortunate encounter.”

“You-” Kat stopped, trying to muster up the amount of confidence she needed to not go running back to the rest of her group and risk being killed by this voice in the forest for it, “You’ve been stalking us.”

“And who wouldn't?” they paused. “I need to know if I can trust the other survivors.”

“A-And how can I trust you?” Kat hissed, “I don't even know who you are!”

With that, the voice bounced off the trees, “Then allow me to introduce myself.” 

A short haired ginger swiftly appeared in front of Kat. With a dark purple tank top on with a pristine jacket around her waist, she didn't have any ripped up clothing. It was... odd, to say the least. 

“You can call me Lunar.”

“Well, hello there… Lunar? I’m Kat.” Kat spoke, nervously shrinking into herself, smiling her usual gleeful smile in spite of it.

Her tail flicked left and right wildly and her ears remained pushed flat to her head as this ‘Lunar’ character smiled back, a sweet yet devious smile, walking closer to her.

When they were almost touching her, they walked past, scanning Kat up and down with the same expression, before resting their hands on her shoulders, causing her to shudder.

Despite personal boundaries, they played with her long hair, twirling it in their fingers with purr.

“Take me to your group.”

Kat was terrified.

“W-What if I say no?”

Lunar pulled on her hair, Kat gasping in pain and attempting to push her away. They remain firmly behind her, continuing to twirl her hair with glee.

“I don’t think you have much of a choice, dear,” they laugh with faux lightheartedness, “Pretty please? I’d love to meet them!” Lunar paused with an implied smirk, “Well… formally anyway.”

Kat gulped. She really didn't have a choice, did she? Dad was going to be so mad at her… but maybe he’d understand.

“Ok…”

The person bounced back cheerfully, letting go of her hair and taking their hand off her shoulders.

“Then what are you waiting for~?” they sang, expression darkening, “I’m sure they're dying to meet me. 

Kat swallowed her fears and brought the berries and this new unexpected guest back ‘home’ with her.


	5. Chapter 5: A Faux Friend, A Friendly Foe

Kat trembled as she walked. What was Lunar going to do to her group? Her friends? Maybe even… her family? Okay, that was way too sappy for Kat’s liking, but she still considered Toast her dad - and wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him or the rest of the group.

"We're here," Kat spat, looking down at the group's small area, "This is our temporary camp, not like anyone decided on it," Lunar scanned the area, "Interesting," they mumbled. They walked forward, making their presence known to the rest of the group.

Nebula immediately grabbed their katana with a monotone growl, Wholesome perched lazily on their shoulders. 

“Not another one-”

In contrast, Toast jumped up from his spot with Yumi, rushing over to Kat and giving her a great, big hug, lecturing to her about never doing that again.

"Hello, all,” Lunar purred, clearly confident in their words, "I'm assuming you ran away from the city up north?" 

"If we didn't, we wouldn't be here, " Toast scoffed.

"Who are you?" Nebula spat, holding their katana out in a defensive position.

"Ah, the one with the sassy attitude. To answer your question… Star, I am Lunar," Lunar smirked. "This kind girl brought me here, after I asked."

"I hate them already," Nebula growled to themself quietly.

"Why did you ask to be brought here, Lunar?" Toast sneered, giving side-eye to Kat, "We don't have anything to give you." 

"I saw your friend here had been injured… I can take care of them."

Looking at Lunar’s state, Toast had a few theories in mind why they were actually here, but even despite them… “You expect us to trust you?”

"You barge into here, insult me, then tell us to leave our injured friend in your custody. I agree with Toast, who is human, which is something I almost never do. Leave us alone, you stalker," Nebula scoffed at them.

“Stalker?! Harsh words for someone who did the exact same, hm?" Lunar fired back, "I assume that your ‘friends’ aren't exactly buddy-buddy with you after that encounter."

"At least I saved them from zombies. You, on the other hand, forced Kat to take you here against her own free will," they spat, then returned to polishing their katana.

“And how do you know that? I could have just politely asked. You seem quick to judge.” 

“Your reaction proves my point exactly."

“Oh, so it does. Lovely for you,” Lunar tapped two of her fingernails against each other, apathetic indefinitely, “I’m still here and my question… well… DEMAND still stands,” they snickered, "There's only two options here… and you know I have the higher ground.”

Nebula cocked an eyebrow and looked around them, locking gazes with Toast, Kat, and Wholesome. Yumi didn't count.

“Do you now?” they moved their katana in just the right way to reflect a strong glare of red light from the corpses still laying on the ground.

“Seems you had a pretty bad injury fighting those zombies. It would be a shame if I made a loud noise and attracted some more."

“Why can’t we just be on good terms with each other?" 

As soon as the words were spoken, Toast regretted it. Both of the assassins shot him a death glare, which seemed to be the only thing they had in common.

Lunar looked at them all, “ I have an offer. I look after this friend of yours and you come back to them alive,” they clicked their tongue with a smirk, “You can trust me."


	6. Chapter 6: It Goes Too Fast

"I can't believe you're still here," Nebula snapped, "You were supposed to leave three hours ago." 

“Has it really been that long?” Toast genuinely asked, a slight tilt to his head.

"Yes. It has." 

"Well, we can't exactly go away right now,” Kat said, "Yumi is injured and they can't walk. Plus, I don't trust Lunar."

“You can collect supplies,” Nebula glared at Kat, “You really do need more, especially if you're giving some to… them. Just don't pick up any more ‘friends’.”

"Ahem."

Nebula turned around. Behind them was Lunar, tapping their left foot impatiently.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want?" they rolled their eyes.

"I want to know if you have the courage to let me protect your friend yet," Lunar said.

They ignored Lunar, and instead turned to Toast, "Toast, I don't trust this person. It's your decision, though - since Yumi’s your friend." 

With that, Nebula turned on their heel and went to tend to Yumi.

"Your friend's very sarcastic,” Lunar scoffed, "At least they have some experience with fighting. Good for that, otherwise you should have abandoned them a long time ago."

"What do you want, Lunar?" Toast asked them, "...or did you just come here to put down Nebula?"

“Aw, I'm not allowed to join your group?” they pouted, “You seemed fine with them, but what about me?"

"To be honest, I’d rather you leave us alone,” he spat back, “You haven't done anything except threaten and demand us to let you take care of our most vulnerable member.”

Lunar rolled their eyes as Toast hissed, “You expect us to be on good terms?

“The past is in the past.”

They gave a sly smirk as they rested a hand on Toast’s shoulder, him immediately swatting it away with a furied look.

“THAT WAS ONLY A COUPLE OF MINUTES AGO!” 

All eyes locked on the two, Lunar resting their hand on their hip.

“Yes, I know, but don't you know how to move on?” they look to the left with a flick of their hip to the right, “This is a zombie apocalypse. You need any help you can get and not have any enemies. I really don't think you want your little group on my bad side.”

One more pair of eyes bored into Toast, Toast shooting a glance at Kat before…

Lunar put a hand on his chin and turned him to face them.

“That's no way to treat a guest.”

That was the last straw.

“Fuck off, Lunar.”

He slapped their hand off and stood his ground, glaring back at them.

“You have no right to boss me OR my group around. Bug Nebula and that… cat all you want, but lay a finger on my family and you’ll wish you were dead.”

In mock fear, Lunar raised their hands and dramatically cowered.

“Oh no! I'm the bad guy!” they scoffed and lowered their hands back down, “I was just asking some questions, dear. No need to get apprehensive. I'm just saying… safety is better in numbers.”

They twirled around behind Toast, causing him to snap back to eye them with a twitch.

“I know a couple of things to help you out,” they rested their arms crossed in front of them, a smug expression plastered on their face, “How do you think I survived on my own?”

“Stealing things from others?’ Toast said matter-of-factly, cocking an eyebrow.

Lunar stared blankly, putting down their arms, “No.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Toast cleared his throat and raised his hands into quotation marks, “‘Borrowing’ things from others?”

“No,” Lunar tilted their head, remaining expressionless, “You think I’m a thief?”

“I think you only care about self-preservation and power,” Toast crossed his arms and scoffed, “You don't care about groups, you care about yourself… and ONLY yourself. If a group benefits you, you join them. As soon as they’re ‘worthless’ and don't benefit you anymore, you drop them,” he locked eyes with Lunar once more.

“I’m not risking it."


	7. Chapter 7: Runner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !! TW !!  
> Injures, graphic descriptions of injuries, bruises

Nebula grumbled under their breath as they walked away from the fighting. That person was dangerous, and they knew it - they had talked to enough people of Lunar's kind. They were always manipulative, taking your best aspects, and leaving you with the worst. Nebula had lost enough that way, and they weren't going to let the humans fall for it too, even if they didn't know anything.

They walked over to Yumi. They looked better, but the wounds were still there, and very noticeable under the mountains of bandages encasing them. Nebula, seeing those bandages stained in maroon and slight purple, turned their attention to grabbing another two rolls from their backpack and kneeling down beside the injured member. Out of the corner of their eye, they saw Wholesome resting on a stump and contently watching the two fight, amused by them. They rolled their eyes.

Nebula carefully started taking off the bandages, cautious and precise, slowly peeling them away, revealing scabbing injuries, deeper yellow and purple bruises, and dried pus edging the wounds where scabs hadn't formed. 

They gently scraped away the pus, being sure not to pick a scab or agitate the injuries even more, and took out a flask of drinking water and Yumi’s discarded cloth ‘hoodie’, shaking away what they could of the filth on it and wetting it. They began to go over the wounds one by one in an attempt to clean them somewhat, and when Nebula was done, they ringed the cloth to place it in their bag, picking back up one of the two rolls of bandages.

The bandaging process was the least stressful part, only needing to identify the places of injuries that broke skin, avoid places that would be dangerous to constrict, and wrap them with just the right pressure. Repetitivity eases the mind, they say.

After only a few minutes, Yumi had clean bandages...

...and the whole time, Nebula was fuming.

They looked over to the fighting and saw Lunar scoffing. Probably something about Toast thinking they were 'being the bad guy' - they had heard snippets of their conversation the whole time they were working.

A branch cracked in half.

Nebula quickly whipped their head around.

With a gust of wind, a person barged into the camp, out of breath. They had a small group of zombies chasing behind - and it looked like the zombies were gaining on them.

Nebula shot up from their spot on the ground next to Yumi and sprinted to the person. They took out their katana out and stabbed the one that was closest in the head, its dark red blood splattering to the ground. The person stared at Nebula with wide eyes, clearly very surprised, but very quickly backed up and just watched them.

It was only a small group of five zombies, not counting the one already mutilated on the ground. With no one at their side, Nebula swiftly jumped the closest one, stabbing it through the head just like the one before and pulling it through the side of its face with some struggle, only a few dribbles of blood coming out of this zombie. The other zombies focused their attention on them and they pushed one in such a way to strike another to make it fall. With a katana that stabbed through the remaining standing zombie, they slammed a foot onto one of the zombies on the ground and decapitated the other with the force of their whole body, and once the head rolled off the neck, Nebula did the same to the other, old blood freshly coating their katana once more.

They glared back at the new intruder. 

In a flash, Nebula had their katana pinned to the right side of the person's neck in such a position that they could easily open up a cut large enough to end the person's life. The intruder still seemed surprised, but now petrified of them. 

"Who are you?" Nebula growled, staring daggers. The person shrunk under their gaze.

"My name is K-Kai,” they mumbled, stuttering.

"Well, 'Kai', care to explain why you tracked those zombies into my territory?"

"I-I didn't mean to! I was trying to run away and then they came and started following me and I wasn't looking where I was going and-and-" they nervously rambled on, all the while avoiding Nebula's stern gaze.

They held a hand up to Kai, in which case they stopped talking. 

Nebula contemplated. If they were to let Kai in, since the poor person clearly needed food and shelter, they would be letting yet another person into their territory. Then again, Toast and his group weren't doing anything to it... and they seemed too idiotic to actually harm the grounds - if they even ever found out how to, which was still a big if. Besides, they could always kick them out with some new scars to match if they ever went out of line.

"Kai, follow me," they said, beckoning for them to come, "I'll introduce you to the others."

… 

"Toast. Lunar. Kat. Meet Kai," Nebula said from behind the trio, causing them to startle and turn around.

"He was getting attacked by zombies," at this, they gestured to the fresh corpses that now lay on the blood-stained dirt, "I couldn't just slit his throat, he clearly needs some sort of help."

"Hold up," Kat interrupted, "You-you just- massacred like, what, six zombies? Without us knowing?"

"Well, you and Toast were so wrapped up in your.. 'conversation' with Lunar - I'd honestly be very surprised if you noticed," Nebula scoffed.

Kai spoke up, "What.. are you? You- you don't seem like a human..." he stole a glance at Kat and Wholesome, "...or even an animal. Are you even from Earth?"

"What do you think I am?"

"Uh-U-Um-" he stuttered.

"A star, Kai. A star," Nebula said, monotonous, "I'm a star."

He cocked a confused eyebrow.

Lunar, who had been silently watching, spoke up.

"So you let them in without any hassle, but not me? How selfish of you," they dramatically put a hand to their forehead and leaned back. 

Toast hummed loudly, "Lunar's ego has been severely damaged, they will never quite be the same again."

"...Anyway. You'll be taking him in, unless you reject him. In that case, Kai will be with me. Do you really want that?" Nebula cocked an eyebrow at the three.


	8. Chapter 8: An Angel's Hail

After some discussion and Toast protecting Kai from Nebula, the group decided that Kai would be staying with them in their little clearing.

Everyone had split up into two groups - Toast, Kat, and Kai were talking among themselves with Wholesome at their feet, barely listening and half-asleep. Nebula and Lunar were tending to Yumi in silence, occasionally shooting glares at each other.

"So… Kai," Toast hummed, "Welcome to our humble abode."

"It's not an abode..." Kai said, "...or humble. In fact, literally no one here is humble except Yumi - and me, of course."

Toast scoffed, "I bet that's the reason, but you're right."

"It's really more of a… small, indulgent campsite," Kai hissed back. 

At that, Nebula whipped their head around, "You insult my grounds? I can insult your fighting skills, and believe me, that's pretty easy," they confidently spoke.

Wholesome, who had been silently listening, wheezed, "I like him."

"Bet,” Kai challenged.

"Well, okay then."

Nebula took a deep breath.

"A zombie would be a better opponent than you. In fact, they would be better at everything then you. Swordplay, defense, strategy, speed... I could slice you in two if I wanted. The only advantage you have over the undead? Stronger bones."

“Why haven’t you sliced me in half, then? Oh yeah, I forgot, my bones are almost impenetrable. Ha, bet you wish you had my bones," Kai fired back. 

There was a flash of purple and blue, a small flash of orange right after, and the next second Lunar was holding Nebula back from Kai, clearly struggling. With the rage burning in their dark magenta orbs, Nebula clearly looked as they were going to break his arm... or even worse.

But, the opposite happened - in fact, they threw their head back and cackled, all signs of rage disappearing almost instantly.

"I like this one - he has an attitude. I knew I made the right choice when those guts splattered on the ground," they turned, grabbing Lunar's limb to drag them back to Yumi. Lunar made a small squeak, but quickly attempted to cover it up with a monotone scoff. It didn't work, obviously.

Trying to hide his pronounced fear, Kai just scoffed and crossed his arms, making a small hum of noise in the background just barely audible.

Meanwhile, Toast and Kat were having a nice, quaint chat about how Kat should really start to listen to him.

“Look, Kat…” Toast sighed, gently bringing a hand to her shoulder, “I know how difficult standing up for yourself can be, take that as you will, but crying for help wouldn't have killed you. I know what I’m doing and I…” he looked away, “I care about you. You're my daughter. You're my family. You're the only family I have left.”

Kat’s eyes were opened wide and full of naïveté. Well, at least they were to Toast.

“I can't lose you too. Please stop being reckless, so these situations won't happen in the first place.”

“Blah, blah, blah. Can you all go be sappy somewhere else?” Wholesome interjected, now hanging off a tree stump, “I’m trying to sleep here.”

"Why don't YOU..." Kat pointed to a random direction, an ear twitching, "...go somewhere else instead! Like over there maybe?"

Wholesome scrutinized one of their paws, humming, "How about..." they clicked their tongue, "...no? I'd rather not sleep near Miss 'I'm gonna show up out of nowhere with a personality based around killing God and beg to watch over and then stare at this unconscious, really hurt human being'."

Kat slowly nodded back, looking at the ground in deep thought, while Toast just stared at them blankly, before turning around to see Lunar's situation.

She wasn't staring at Yumi, but more looking around absentmindedly, thoughts embedded in the wind around her.

Eventually, Lunar's eyes did pan over Yumi... and she softened. A small smile landed on her face. Yumi looked so peaceful. It had been so long since Lunar had seen someone so peaceful. She was so used to people not trusting her… and for good reason. She wasn't as good of a person as she wanted them to believe. Was she a thief? No, much worse. 

Lunar shook herself from her thoughts. She had shown weakness - and was angry at herself for letting her guard down. She watched the area for zombies. She needed something to do. She needed to distract herself, and then, she would go back to normal. 

She peered at Nebula out of the corner of her eye, making sure they hadn't noticed her. Luckily, Nebula was too focused on tending to Yumi, carefully and precisely bandaging their wounds with the utmost care. It was very softhearted of them - but also very out of character. Weren't they trying to kick them out just an hour or two ago? Had they really abandoned their beliefs that fast? Lunar knew they would never do that... and it almost angered them that Nebula seemed to have done just that. That's what they were feeling. Anger? Or maybe.. 

Lunar pushed those thoughts out of her mind. The only reason Nebula was caring for Yumi was because they had serious injuries and Nebula knew how to treat those kinds of injuries. That was the only reason. Yes. 

Still… 

"Oi, Lunar, are you going to help or not? I can't get these bandages wrapped by myself." Nebula scoffed.

"Yeah yeah, sure, shut up." Lunar moved over to take the used bandages from them, focusing her mind on the cloth as she tried to ignore those pushed out thoughts.

She did not.


	9. Chapter 9: Morpheus' Vassal For Vessels

To get her mind off everything, Lunar decided to go and pester Toast after she was done knitting the bandages onto Yumi.

She sprung up with mock realization and calculated sadness, leaving Yumi for the ground as she turned around to face him... face-to-face.

Walking over with a slight hunch, Toast's eyes were already on her the moment she came into his view.

"You know... there's no need to be so hostile!" Lunar tried, a hand clutched on an arm as she tilted her head slightly, "I deserve to be on the team..."

An awkward silence takes over the one-sided conversation.

"Bet," Toast scoffed, crossing his arms as he continues eyeing her.

Of course Lunar’s guilt trip didn’t work. Toast saw through her ruse from the beginning. 

“I am a good help! I'm not as bad as you think!” she knew that was a lie, “I can confirm one thing. I'm not a thief."

Toast snickered, “Not a thief, you say. Yet, you're a manipulative little liar who gets mad when things don't go your way” 

“You’ll need me. I know all the ways to get around the zombie hordes in the city... and you're going to need to get supplies from there soon enough. You won't be safe in this forest forever, you know,” she snapped.

“You would get us killed the moment we step foot into the city,” he scoffed.

“And kill myself in the process. You really think I'm that stupid?"

“I do. It's a shame the zombies didn't get to you sooner."

“We are more similar than you think,” she turned away with a glare in her eyes. This was one of the reasons she was like this, people like him. 

"I'm tired of this, Lunar. You have been trying to convince me enough."

She turned to him with a wicked glare.

"Have you forgotten?"

"Forgotten what, exactly?"

"What I can, could, and will do. You don't stand a chance."

Toast realized just too late what she was going to do.

With that, Lunar let out an ear-splitting scream. Fortunately, the nearest zombies were the ones in the city, and only one or two lifted their heads up.

Unfortunately, someone else had heard the noise. 

… 

~~_A haze of grey, red, and peach… and green and deep galaxy blue morphed together over and over again, details vague and perfectly clear. They were outside and inside, inside and out, outside and in, but they couldn't leave. There was no way to know. To know this or them or it, but what could they remember? Black?_ ~~

~~_It hurt. Every piece of their body burned with a cut or bruises coming from a love of a sweetheart lost to a near demi of ten._ ~~

~~_There was a garden with a faceless puff of someone, someone important waiting with a smile._ ~~

~~_With odd… yet familiar charm, the creature skipped forward with flowers deflowered on every foot, every step, every way to escape being shut down with suffocating suffocation of skin and bones._ ~~

~~_Eyes of bone._ ~~

~~_Someone screamed..._ ~~

~~~~

~~_…_ ~~

~~~~

~~_...and Yumi thought it was them._ ~~

… 

Nebula was certainly surprised by Lunar’s scream... since it caused them to mess up one of the clean bandages they were slowly and carefully wounding onto Yumi’s arm.

What surprised them even more, however, was Yumi shooting open their eyelids, jolting up, and bracing themselves for a threat that wasn't there… unless you counted Lunar and themself.

"Yumi?! Are you okay?"

Yumi looked at them with a goofy smile, seemingly fine, with big, innocent eyes revealed with a flicker of light on their glasses.

"Yeah! I’m okay!" they patted themself down just for the sake of it, sneaking a glance at Nebula, before pulling out a dirty, worn-down book from a humongous side pocket in their pants, skimming through its contents, "...Do I know you?"

"What-"

They slammed the book shut, a light bulb going off in their head, and they snapped their fingers in excitement, "Oh yes! The ‘I’m going to stab Toast’ person!” they waved skittishly, “Hi!"

"...What?"

… 

Toast had thrown a hand over Lunar's mouth just a second after they screamed. Luck, it seemed though, was on their side - no zombies came.

"Why would you DO that?!" he hissed.

Lunar blinked, then smirked. 

That was enough for Toast. He shoved her to the side and took a deep breath, clenching his hands into fists.

"I'm- I'm just- UGH," Toast sighed, obviously very fed up with her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yumi… jolting up? Wait, Yumi was now awake?! And Nebula was with them-

Oh.

_Oh no._

"Lunar, just- just... take care of Kai, alright? I-I'm sure he needs some sort of guidance."

Without giving Lunar the time to respond, he rushed off to Nebula, who was now looking very confused - the first time he’d seen them like this.

… 

Nebula was now very confused, obviously, for the second time in their life. What was Yumi even doing? Didn't they know them? Thankfully, they saw Toast running over from his spot from Lunar, Lunar now very smug.

Before Toast had a chance to talk, Nebula spoke.

"TOAST! Thank Athena you're here, what is happening with Yumi?!"

Athena? He shook it off, "Nebula, Yumi has memory loss. That big book they have is where they list in all the things that happen around them,” he explained with a higher-pitched voice than usual, crossing his arms, an unsure and anxious expression plastered on his face.

"...Memory loss?" this was the first time Toast had seen Nebula unsure of themself, and for good reason too. How didn't they know what memory loss was-

Oh.

Star.

"Well," Toast took a deep breath, "Memory loss, or amnesia, is unusual forgetfulness. There's two types, short-term and long-term… It’s... complicated. Many reasons for it...” he put his fingers on his temple with a grimace, “...but generally, it means the person with memory loss, has trouble remembering certain things, including people, places, and situations.”

"So, it's like... they can't remember their memories?" 

"Yes,” Toast looked back up with a cocked eyebrow, “That's what I said.”

Nebula still looked slightly confused, but Yumi butted in for them.

"Toast?"

Toast looked over to Yumi, "Hm?"

"Just making sure,” they wrote something down in their now reopened book, which laid in their lap just as before, before closing it and putting back in their pocket, “What's going on?”

Yumi gave a big, childish grin.

In their pocket, their hand held onto the past twice over.

… 

Lunar watched the three silently. Toast seemed to be explaining something to Nebula, who looked confused - and Yumi was awake? It didn't seem to attract her interest, and besides, that Kai guy could use some decent training. 

She looked over at him. Apparently, he was talking with Kat, and both of them looked sleepy. Wholesome was in his lap, purring.

“Kai!” she called out, silently grabbing two sticks from the ground.

He slowly looked over to her, half-asleep. 

“Catch!”

The stick flew through the air out of Lunar’s hand, soaring over to Kai and almost hitting his face in the process. It landed on the ground next to his feet, and he picked it up.

“What do I need this for?” he questioned Lunar, sleepily.

“Sparring. If you’re going to be around me, you should at least learn some actually good fighting skills.”

Before Kai could question more, she whipped out her stick and twisted around to face Kai, putting her stick on the right of his neck.

Kai, startled, backed up, adjusting the stick better in his hand. He moved around Lunar and tried to knock the stick out of her grasp, but she turned around swiftly and knocked his stick out of his.

“The trouble with you, Kai, is that you rely too much on your offense,” Lunar said, picking up his stick.

“You have to learn to support your defense.”

With that, she tossed his stick to him, and stepped back.

“Well?”

“Well, what? What am I supposed to do?” he said.

“Try to attack me.” 

Kai timidly stepped forward, though standing tall. He gripped his stick and swung it to Lunar’s side. Lunar responded by clashing her stick into Kai’s, but he backed up and swung at the opposite side. Lunar smirked.

“Not bad.”

**Author's Note:**

> (Written by @GhostToast8323 on Wattpad (Toast)  
> kittycat929 on Discord (Kat)  
> @PuppetGaster on Wattpad (Yumi)  
> Wholesomesnowfall on Wattpad (Wholesome)  
> Foxtastic :3 on YouTube (Nebula)  
> @LunarEclispe462 on Wattpad (Lunar)  
> izmiio on Instagram (Kai)  
> Charisma Crackers on Discord (Charisma))


End file.
